Chapter XXI, Section 1b

In these, even after death, that which is immortal in them doth not cease to work wonderful things. So in the herbs and plants, pulled asunder GRAND SOLAR MAN. and dried, that Virtue is quick and operative which was infused at first into them by the Idea . Thence it is that as the eagle all her life time doth overcome all other birds, so also her feathers, after her death, destroy and consume the feathers of all other birds. Upon the same account doth a lion's skin destroy all other skins; and the skin of the civet cat destroys the skin of the panther; and the skin of a wolf corrodes the skin of a lamb. And some of these do not do it by way of a corporeal contact, but also sometimes by their very sound. So a drum made of the skin of a wolf makes a drum made of a lamb-skin not so sound. Also a drum made of the skin of the fish called rochet drives away all creeping things, at what distance soever the sound of it is heard; and the strings of an instrument made of the intestines of a wolf, and being strung upon a harp or lute with strings made of the intestines of a sheep, will make no harmony.